International News

Mar 09, 2019

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7:54AM

Britain extends rare diplomatic protection to mother jailed in Iran

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Britain has extended diplomatic protection to a British-Iranian mother jailed in Tehran in a move that was immediately branded by the Islamic republic as a violation of international law. Diplomatic protection is a rarely-used mechanism allowing nations to seek protection on behalf of its citizens on the grounds that they have been wronged by another state.

The fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been a bone of contention between Tehran and London since her arrest in Iran in January 2016. Thomson Reuters Foundation employee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2016 for allegedly trying to topple the Iranian government. The Thomson Reuters Foundation and the British government have consistently denied the charges against her.